Instructional Approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Instructional Approaches - Essay Example The articles selected for analysis reflect different instructional approaches and illustrate different methods and techniques used in social sciences. The article "Literary Studies and Cognitive Science: Toward a New Interdisciplinary" by M. Th. Crane and A. Richardson discuss a new interdisciplinary approach applied to literary studies and social sciences. In this article, a special attention is given to cognitive learning approach and its application. the authors underline that building on earlier theories of learning, researchers working toward interactive technologies perceived limitations in earlier methods. By developing theories that emphasize synthesis and integration of sets of knowledge and skills, researchers hope to address such limitations as an emphasis on components instead of integrated wholes, a closed system that made incorporation of new knowledge difficult, which resulted in essentially passive instruction and labor intensive practice in design and development of instruction. The authors state that the teacher provides modeling of the metacognitive strategies necessary for beginning the task, and, when problems are encountered, assistance is provided by the teacher or group. One learning procedure reflecting this stance, complex dynamic simulations, structures collaborative group work in sharing a complex problem-solving task. This approach is based on theories about the social genesis of learning in which the learner is characterized as being motivated to seek explanations through exploration. The article "Using Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives" by C. P. Cook-Cottone analyses instructional approaches and learning theories in terms of the Narrative Process. The Healing Narrative Model is based on the structured approach. It means that one is that learning should be contextual and a process of active application of knowledge toward specific problem-solving goals. Also, the article pays a special attention to experiential (or sensorimotor) level and early relationships (or Preoperational) level. An initial authoring activity in instructional design is a clarification of the learning goal for the instruction and/or curriculum. The specification of the goal(s) will help prescribe the format of the instruction. For example, if the goal is the learning of new information, there are basically possibilities. Second is the general agreement regarding the importance of modeling problem-solving strategies as well as the role of conflict or failure in providing an impetus toward new learning. The research by Harris and Pressley, M. (1991) describes bad illustrates the cognitive strategy instruction:. The authors underline that in contrast to the behaviorist view of the learner as shaped by the environment, cognitivebased researchers are investigating the ways that the learner actively shapes the environment to facilitate learning. His research indicates that the knowledge of novices is organized around the literal aspects of a problem statement, whereas the experts' knowledge is organized around principles and abstractions not apparent in the problem

Driving Stick Shift Essay Example for Free

Driving Stick Shift Essay Learning to drive a stick shift is one of the things I mastered in life because of the effort and practice I’ve invested. I can still remember the day I learned how to drive a manual transmission car. My cousin stopped by our house and I asked him to teach me how to drive. The only problem was his car was a stick shift. I honestly got intimidated by those horrendous three pedals and that hair-chilling gear shifter, but nothing stopped me from wanting to learn because I knew it would be worth it and I thought I would make me look cooler. So he grabbed the keys and drove to a parking lot that had a wide empty road. He stopped, turned off the car, got out and said â€Å"Okay, your turn. † So I began the initiation into the high art of driving a stick shift. He gave me all the instructions, he told me to press down on the clutch so I can start the car. I kept my left foot on the clutch and put the car in first gear. I slowly released the clutch as I was slowly pressing on the gas pedal. Then, boom! I stalled and the car shut off. My cousin started laughing. I tried to get the car started again and I still stalled on my fifth attempt. He continued laughing while giving me advices. Finally, on my sixth attempt I got the car going. When he saw that I could stop and get the car moving normally and shift gears without grinding the clutch, he gave me the green light to drive to the main streets and freeways. It took me a lot of practices and effort before I got the gist of it. It was all worth it, I actually enjoyed it and promised that my next car would be a stick shift. At first I thought having a stick shift car would only make me look cooler, but when I had my own car I actually learned that it’s less expensive then automatic cars, gets better gas mileage and most of all it’s simply more fun!

Wars throughout Time Essay -- essays research papers

Sometime during the course of World War II, the United States became the most powerful nation in the world. During the last two hundred or so years, the United States has fought ten major wars and innumerable smaller military actions. For the most part it has been successful, in some instances defeating some of the world’s most powerful countries. In other instances it has simply been lucky. A common threat throughout the nation’s existence has been the practice of indifference and neglect. Between wars the Army shrinks to a very small size. Funds and attention almost disappear. This policy of the US Army may well indeed danger the nation’s safety in the future Military strength includes not only the Army, but sea and air power as well which will not be considered here. The resources of a country such as population, size, wealth, and factories all contribute to a nation’s military might and to how fast it might be expanded. Military power for ground forces has traditionally been measured in terms like regiments, brigades, divisions, corps, and armies. In addition, an important distinction exists between the Regular Army (the permanent establishment officered with West Point graduates), the militia (very important to the nation’s military strength for the first hundred years, local part-time units), and the National Guard or Reserves (in modern times a strong back-up to the Regular Army). The combined sizes of these forces have fluctuated widely when the nation has been at a threat of war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was very important that they created an Army during the American Revolutionary War. The colonists had militias, which fought with the British against the French and Indians. But the revolt against England demanded much more. The Americans who wanted independence gave it a maximum effort. The population of the colonies barely numbered 3,000,000 in 1775. Of the available manpower, a very large proportion either fought with the British or stayed neutral. So for an estimated 184,000 men to have fought for the new nation before the war ended in 1783, the remainder had to contribute a lot. (Almanac 209)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The new government was disorganized and needed money. Nevertheless, it created the Continental Army. It was organized as infantry in many regiments of about 800 men each. At any one time there were only about 15-20,0... ...ar II was the turning point. The rest of the world started fighting two years before Pearl Harbor. This gave the U.S. the time to expand its Army. It just barely did so (remember the Draft Act passing by one vote). Good fortune and luck allowed the policy of tiny peacetime army to work one more time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cold War changed this forever, reinforced by tough lesson in Korea. In the time since then, the state of the world and technology demands that Army not plan a grace period to expand. It has to plan to meet a potential crises with what it has ready. Technology has dropped the need for large numbers of divisions and fighting troops. But technology has conversely demanded that stockpiles of equipment and training be at high levels at all times. Future wars will be over long before new orders for weapons like cruise missiles can be placed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The best way to prepare for the present is to learn and correct our mistakes from the past. The cost may be high, but the world remains a dangerous environment. Today the U.S. must have a ready-to-use Army of a size sufficient for any conflict ahead. This was not always true in the past.

Globalization’s Side Effects

Globalization’s Side Effects May. 14. 2009 Discussing globalization’s side effects might not be appropriate without determining first what globalization is. Although everyone has his or her own definition and uses the term globalization in his or her own way, globalization can be defined generally as a condition in which cross-border movements of money, goods, thoughts, and even people have become much more available on a large scale. Despite globalization having provided people throughout the world with many benefits, it has caused negative impacts on their countries’ economies as well as serious concerns about their nationalities and identities, which globalization gradually erases. The primary adverse effect of globalization is that it destabilizes the foundation of the developing countries’ economies. After cross-border movements of money and goods had become much faster and easier, many cheap and well-made products have invaded the markets of emerging countries. As a result, many local products almost have disappeared because they simply can not rival the cheap prices and high qualities of foreign products. In Paracho, Mexico, for instance, things are getting worse. A Mexican traditional guitar maker complains that his village has lost its famous craft of building guitars because of the invasion of the cheap and well-made guitars from China (Campbell, 2004). Paracho is not only losing its famous craft, but also losing the smarter and more intelligent workers who are leaving it to seek better job opportunities in the Unite State of America. In fact, hundreds and hundreds of villages and cities, especially in developing countries, are losing their main industries in addition to their traditional crafts and therefore their people emigrate to avoid being jobless. The second adverse effect of globalization is that it is gradually erasing the differences between cultures. Needless to say, a culture is a set of values and assumptions that group of people hold, and what makes the differences between one nation and another is the variety of the differences between these values and these assumptions. People’s thoughts all over the world about what is stylish and fashionable are starting to converge. Today, everyone seems to have the same desire which is buying what the advertisements want them to buy. The more you buy, the more happiness you get (Rifkin, 2003). For some intellectuals, globalization is making people’s desire cheap. It replaces people’s high and noble thoughts such as building their countries and contributing to human development with the culture of consumerism instead. Although many people all over the world acknowledge that globalization has provided them with many benefits, they have a strong feeling that globalization is slowly but surely obliterating their culture and traditional way of living. (The Pew Global Attitude Project). In conclusion, there is no doubt about the benefits that people all over the world gain from globalization. However, it causes developing countries serious problems. People in those countries are not only losing their jobs, but also their identities. They have become consumers of goods that are made in other countries. Globalization indeed is a huge challenge that many societies face: some of them have successfully known how to cope with it, yet many of them, unfortunately, have not, and therefore they have become globalization’s victims

Are Violent Video Games Bad for the Youth

In recent discussions of violent video games, a controversial issue has been whether violent video games are bad for youth or not. On one hand, some argue that video games do not affect the youth at all. On the other hand, however, others argue that violent video games affect the youth tremendously. According to media violence researcher Craig Anderson, Chair of Iowa State University’s Department of Psychology, â€Å"in a violent video game, you rehearse the entire aggression sequence from beginning to end† (Hoerrner & Hoerrner 2). According to [his] view, he is saying that â€Å"you have to be vigilant, looking for enemies, looking for potential threats; you have to decide how to deal with the threat, what weapon to use, and how to use it; and then you take physical action to behave aggressively within the game† (Hoerrner & Hoerrner 4). The issue is whether violent video games are bad for eight, nine, or even ten year olds. My own view is that violent video games are indeed bad for young children. Though I concede that whether a child’s parents choose to allow their children to play these violent games is up to them, I still maintain my view that violent games are bad. A perfect example reassuring a parent that their child is not participating in playing these violent games is to check the ratings on the video games to make sure there is no violence in them. Although it might be objected that parents do not have time to check the ratings on their kid’s games, I reply that it is, once again, an option guaranteeing their children are not being exposed to violence. All in all, the issue is important because these violent video games are affecting children’s behavior, making them more aggressive, as well as more violent. Allowing kids to play violent video games changes the way they act towards their peers by causing them to become more aggressive. They no longer seem to have compassion towards one another, but instead coldness towards each other. This was proven when the American Psychological Association concluded that â€Å"playing a lot of violent video games is related to having more aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Furthermore, playing violent games is also related to children being less willing to be caring and helpful toward their peers† (Junior Scholastic 1). Therefore, when children experience more aggression, they are going to feel that their aggressive manner is fine. This age group is not going to take a second look at their negative actions since they see it as â€Å"just fun and games† (Junior Scholastic 1). In essence, by allowing kids to play what they want and not setting boundaries for the kids, parents are not doing any justice to their offspring; instead, parents are saying that it is alright to treat others in an aggressive manner as long as it is just in fun and games. Another perfect example of how violent video games cause children to become more aggressive towards their peers would be the afterschool program I work for — LA’s Best. There I see how these games affect the kids due to how they act towards each other. They are always play-fighting with each other and having fun in their eyes, that is, until someone comes to me or my other staff members crying. When we ask them why they were play-fighting to begin with, they all have the same similar respond-‘that’s how they fight in Mortal Kombat. ’ Mortal Kombat is a popular series of fighting games that contain high levels of blood and gore. So to see our kids reenact what they see on their video games is upsetting because it shows us, the staff, that our kids version of playing together is hitting and tumbling around with each other until someone gets hurt. The eight to ten year olds no longer see playing together as participating in a friendly game of soccer, but instead, a vicious way to kick those who they despise. Therefore, by allowing our kids to involve themselves in these vicious games, changes their definition of the meaning of ‘fun’. They now see fun as hitting and kicking each other until someone is down in pain since they see this type of act of violence in their video game. Lastly, not only do kids experience aggressive behavior through video games, but also criminal violent behavior. This is due to the high rating of violence in the kid’s games. These games make it seem okay to shoot and kill people because the young children can always restart the game and play again. However, in reality, the only thing that these games do for children is actively train them to kill. Take for instance, Retired Lt. Col. Dave Grossman who â€Å"argues that children learn to use weapons and become sharp shooters through simulated games the same way soldiers use simulations to improve their shooting precision. Just as children can improve their phonics with Learn to Read with Winnie the Pooh, they can learn to shoot with deadly accuracy, playing Doom, Splinter Cell, Hitman, and other first-person shooter games† (Hoerrner & Hoerrner 2). Although many would question what Grossman is saying, it actually was proven to be accurate â€Å"in [the] 1997's high school shootings [in] Paducah, Kentucky, [when] the 14-year-old who opened fire on a before school prayer group landed eight out of eight shots on eight different targets. Five of those were headshots† (Hoerrner & Hoerrner 2). Keep in mind the â€Å"teenage shooter had never held a real gun before his shooting rampage†¦ however, spent long hours playing first-person shooter games that simulated killing with the same weapon he used that morning† (Hoerrner & Hoerrner 2). To sum it up, the violence in video games does lead to violent behavior. Video game interaction leads kids to think that using violence is acceptable, causing them to choose their fist over rationality. In conclusion, violent games do indeed lead to aggressive and violent behavior. Not only do these games cause children to be aggressive towards one another, but they also lead to the physical pain of others due to the high content of violence. This is due to children having the entire aggression sequence from beginning to end imprinted in their mind. This therefore, leads them having to seek potential threats while having to figure out which physical action will have the best outcome. This is why every parent should watch the levels of violence in video games as well as set boundaries to what their children can and cannot play.

Social Inequality essayEssay Writing Service

Social Inequality essayEssay Writing Service Social Inequality essay Social Inequality essayAffirmative action policies and programs are measures taken to create equal opportunities within employment and education. They are intended to prevent or decrease discrimination based on the applicants’ origin, gender, religion, race etc. Among the measures of affirmative action there are outreach campaigns, employee support programs, targeted recruitment policies and so on. All of them are meant to guarantee that public institutions provide equal opportunities for equally qualified people. However, affirmative actions is a subject of controversy because racial and gender quotas often create a counter effect of reverse discrimination.No society can be free from discrimination because despite constitutional rights and freedoms people are born with different abilities and talents. Another thing is that there can be a biased approach to people of other skin color or ethnicity. Discrimination is now more often treated as a historical fact, but inequality is not an easy thing to abolish. However, affirmative action is sometimes considered to be an inadequate medicine that treats symptoms instead of the disease.In one of the affirmative action cases, Strauder v. West Virginia, the Supreme Court explained that the Equal Protection Clause guaranteed the civil rights for all races . The Supreme Court stated that the rights enjoyed by the white were equally given to the color races. It was stated that the general government provided the protection of the civil rights in that way, whenever they should be violated. The Supreme Court underlined that according to the Equal Protection Clause similar situations were to be treated in the same way.Today, there is a continuous search of effective alternatives for affirmative action to reduce inequality in the society. Experts say, the main thing to do is to find and solve the root causes of the social problem under consideration. Still, it has been found out that at the moment there is no substitute policy to work more properly or at least as well as affirmative actio.

Television essay Essays

Television essay Essays Television essay Essay Television essay Essay Television has a big Influence on how everybody perceives themselves. We can relate to what we see In TV such as romance, career and family. One In particular however contradicts their name Modern Family, which comes on BBC channel. Modern Family portrays an example of the mythical norm of a traditional family, gender stereotyping and how gender affects social ranking. Characters from Modern Family challenge the patriarchal society while other are still subordinated to it. Modern Family debuted on September 2009. It centers around three different families, Jay and his children Mitchell and Claire. Jay is married to Gloria who is from Columbia and are raising two children together. His son Mitchell who is in a gay relationship with his partner Cameron, adopting a Vietnamese baby. Jays daughter Claire is a house wife who provides structure to the home, whereas Phil her husband provides for the household. The social hierarchy ranking system is based on how society assigns a group whether the person Is privileged or oppressed based on the differences. The book Womens Voices defines privilege as advantages people have by virtue of their status or position In society (61 Based on the characters roles all the husbands are reviled because they are white and males. All of the wives have some privileges because of their husbands making them upper class, but are also somewhat oppressed since they are women. Mitchell and Cameron fall under the male privileges but are oppressed because they are gay. Homosexuality and female gender have always been groups easily discriminated by society. Likewise to the hierarchy privileges of each character, sexism still goes unnoticed by most viewers. Gender stereotypes are presented throughout the Modern Family series. The women on the show are seen as unintelligent and emotional. One example of gender stereotype Is found In the episode A Hard Jays Night Phil Is helping Gloria sell an old apartment she lived In before she met Jay, while waiting for a client they decide to visit an old hair salon Gloria used to work In and volunteer to help. Gloria states that she had forgotten how exhausting It was working at a hair salon, since she Is now a house wife. She confesses to Phil that she feel afraid of selling the old apartment because she used to provide for herself and now it was Jay providing for her. By being young, attractive and in some cases of Hispanic origin, Gloria displays he characteristic of a gold digger. A gold digger is a person getting involved romantically with someone wealthy. Being that Jay is a wealthy person with a big house and a business his own. Gloria usually speaks about suffering poverty while growing up, and has easily adapted to living an upper class life style. Another example of gender stereotype is Phil Dungy who is considered as the head of the household because he Is the man of the house, while Claire stays at home and cares for the kids. 80 percent of single-parent households are headed by women, but on sitcoms, half of them are headed by men (Highlighting et al. . These types of stereo types reinforce patriarchy by defining the wives roles primarily as the frankly caregiver and the husbands as the providers. In addition to the sexism found in all Cameron. Mitchell tends to be more of the provider of the household whereas Cameron has a caregiver role who helps maintain the home. Cameron displays feminine traits, which influence him in to appear as the women of the family. This stereotype effects heterosexual males and females. Bernard Whitley points out in his essay that, Evidence that this belief system is tied to heterosexuals perceptions of Sabine and gay men comes from demonstrations that men who are described as having feminine characteristics are Judged likely to be gay whereas women described as having masculine characteristics are Judged likely to be lesbians (692). The show not only misleads family structure but also encourages traditional gender roles and stereotype of women. In conclusion, Modern Family is Just like any other television show made up to entertain us. Yet it also gives us an idea on how people are defined by their gender or sexual orientation. Modern Family is not the only show that entities to oppress subordinate groups of people. However, it helps to influence the colonization that molds the viewers perception and morals to continue the oppression of these subordinate groups.